New Report Labels Formaldeyhde a Cause of Cancer

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has added formaldehyde to its list of known carcinogens, and also now lists the chemical styrene as a substance reasonably likely to cause cancer.

HHS' congressionally-mandated update of the Report on Carcinogens, which is prepared by the National Toxicology Program, now identifies 240 chemicals and biological agents.

New to this year's list of known carcinogens is the industrial chemical formaldehyde and aristolochic acids, a botanical.

Formaldehyde first made the 2nd Report on Carcinogens as a substance reasonably anticipated to cause cancer after lab studies showed it causes nasal cancer in rats. New studies in humans have since provided enough proof of the link between formaldehyde and humans to bump it to the "known carcinogen" list, according to a press release from HHS.

Formaldehyde is a widely used colorless, strong-smelling chemical (it's the new house smell) that is used to make resins for household items such as composite wood items, plastics, and textile coatings. It's also commonly used in medical laboratories, mortuaries, nail polish, and in hair straightening products used in salons.

"There is now sufficient evidence from studies in humans to show that individuals with higher measures of exposure to formaldehyde are at increased risk for certain types of rare cancers, including nasopharyngeal and sinonasal cancer, as well as myeloid leukemia," according to HHS.

Naturally-occurring aristolochic acids -- which are used in a variety of herbal products often sold on the Internet and abroad to treat conditions such as arthritis, gout, and inflammation -- have been shown to cause high rates of bladder or upper urinary tract cancer among people with kidney or renal diseases.

The report also adds styrene and five other substances -- captafol, cobalt-tungsten carbide (in powder or hard metal form), certain inhalable glass wool fibers, o-nitrotoluene, and riddelliine -- to the list of substances that are reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens.

Styrene is a synthetic chemical used in styrofoam food containers and in the manufacture of latex paint, synthetic rubbers, boats, and bathtubs.

But the greatest exposure to styrene is through cigarette smoking, HHS said.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental group, called publication of the report "a really big deal," because it has been held up for four years by pressure from industry, according to a blog post by Jennifer Sass of the NRDC.

"The chemical industry fought the truth, the science, and the public -- but, in the end our government experts came through for us, giving the public accurate information about the health risks from chemicals that are commonly found in our homes, schools, and workplaces," Sass wrote.

The American Chemistry Council, the group that represents the chemical industry, blasted the report and said it is concerned that "politics may have hijacked the scientific process" and said the report flies in the face of what President Obama said early in his presidency about letting science alone guide scientific decisions.

"Today's report by HHS made unfounded classifications of both formaldehyde and styrene and will unnecessarily alarm consumers," wrote Cal Dooley, president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council, on the group's website. "The HHS designation on formaldehyde ignores the finding from the independent, government-mandated National Academy of Sciences report which strongly questioned whether the scientific evidence supports a connection between formaldehyde and leukemia."

Dooley also said styrene can still be safely used in food packing, as it has been for 50 years.

The federal government cautions that listing a substance on the report doesn't mean the substance will cause cancer.

"Many factors, including the amount and duration of exposure and an individual's susceptibility to a substance, affect whether a person will develop cancer," HHS said.